


A Little Bit of Lightning

by orphan_account



Series: Little Flash [1]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: AU-Littles are Known, Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Barry Allen & Iris West Friendship, Caretakers Oliver & Felicity, F/M, Little Barry Allen, Non-Sexual Age Play
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-23 22:40:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14342463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: In a better world where people get Classified as either Big, Little or Neutral,  Barry Allen is a Neutral, well that's what he thought anyway!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first fanfic, I hope it's not too choppy! Also sorry it's so short. Feel free to gives me tips! Thanks for reading! *mwah*

Barry Allen was tired, this week had been hard. The newest super villain was some crazy woman who controlled animals, dogs in particular. So he had been forced to hurt sweet loving doggos that the monster made go rabid! He had three different cases going, and then there was a horrible crime scene with a little girl being horribly abused by her own father. Then Oliver called, could Barry come to Star City and help him out with a case? Barry wanted to scream! But instead he took a death breath and gave a cheerful “Sure Oliver, I’ll be there in a flash!" Then sped over.

Barry didn’t know what was wrong with him this week, he felt….clumsy, more than usual clumsy! He had spilt coffee eight times, got mayo on his pants three times, dropped all his papers from cases at least twice (and of course they all got mixed up and had to be resorted) and then he tripped down the precinct stairs! Those were only the at work incidents, at home there were countless accidents, pizza sauce all over his clothes, juice all over the floor, slipping in the bathtub, dropping eggs on the floor while trying to crack them and now Oliver needed his help. Barry wondered if he should have just told him he was too busy, what if he did something super clumsy that ended up causing others to get hurt? All he could do was hope everything went fine.

Everything was not going fine. Turns out the case Oliver needed help with was a group of drug dealers that were experimenting on a bunch of teenagers. The Flash was needed to get all the kids out and to the hospital while the Arrow took out the dealers. At first everything was fine, Barry got all the kids safely to the hospital and came back to help Oliver…that’s when everything started going downhill. On his way back Barry tripped and ended up skidding across the ground and smashing into a brick wall, cracking at least three ribs. At that moment Oliver growled to him over the comms, “Barry the leader is somewhere in the building! I need you to find him while Diggle and I take down the rest of these guys.” Being hurt and exhausted meant Barry wasn’t paying very much attention to his surroundings, so when he ran into the room the drug leader was in Barry didn’t see the chemical trap he set up until it was too late. There was an explosion, Barry was thrown back and everything went fuzzy and muffled

“Barry? Barry! Felicity give me info!” Oliver’s demand was almost instantly after the explosion rocked through the building. “His vitals are spiked but still relatively stable,” Felicity answered “I think he’s just knocked out.” Diggle spoke up “I’ve got this last guy Oliver, go to Barry.” Oliver took his advice and knocking an arrow, quickly made his way over to the room with Felicity directing him. Barry was sprawled against the wall across from the room, mask torn halfway off and a dazed look in his eyes. Oliver first checked on the leader who seemed to have underestimated the force of his explosive trap and lay with his neck twisted at an awkward and unhealthy angle. A pulse check confirmed his suspicions, this guy wouldn’t be making anymore drugs.

Heading back to Barry he knelt down beside the red suited young man and gently patted his hand, “Barry? Can you hear me? C’mon Barry look at me.” Getting no reaction he snapped his fingers in front of his friends face. Barry’s eyes attempted to focus on the fingers and ended up crossing before sliding shut. “Nope! You’re not allowed to pass out yet. Felicity, do you think I can move him safely?” Oliver asked, knowing the blond would have an idea of the injuries by now. Felicity muttered to herself “Wait that’s not right…shouldn’t that be? That should be almost healed by now, unless…” Oliver sighed loudly “Felicity, I love you. But can you please let me in on your little secret?” “Hmm? Oh sorry! It’s just, well he might have been hit with something weird from the explosion or…” Felicity trailed off “Or what Felicity?” Oliver started to let his impatience show in his tone. “Well I’ll have to take some blood tests when you bring him back to make sure, but it looks like Barry is a Little.”


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two's up! Hope you enjoy!

Oliver walked into the “Arrow Cave” holding a sleeping Barry, he gently laid him on the metal medical table and started putting the I.V. in Barry’s arm. Felicity came over, “Can you take the blood sample for me? I wanna be positive of this.”

Oliver took the sample and handed it to Felicity, “Now, why do you think he’s Little?” Felicity took the sample and placed it in a machine “I never said I thought he was, I said it looked like he was. Actually, now that I think about it, he displays a lot of Little tendencies. He’s clumsy, he’s almost always late, he forgets everything, can’t take care of himself.” She paused for a moment, thinking. “ Yeah he’s totally a Little.”

Diggle walked over “Unless you need me I’m gonna head home now.”

Oliver turned around from where he was standing looking at Barry. “I think we’re good, thanks for your help tonight.” Diggle turned and started walking away but Oliver stopped him.

“Hang on Dig, don’t mention this to anybody okay? If Barry is a Little, I don’t think he’s gonna want anyone to know just yet.” John nodded “Of course.”

A loud beeping filled the room, Felicity walked over to the computer and checked the result. “Well there’s no traces of chemicals in his blood. The drug leader wasn’t a Meta so he didn’t hit Barry with anything.”

Oliver looked over at her “It’s very possible that Barry was Mis-Classified, if he was under great amounts of stress the test ca-“

Felicity interrupted him. “It's Barry, of course he was under stress! He was bullied even before his father went to prison, I don't think it got better after.”

Oliver sighed and ran a hand over his face. “This is gonna be a fun conversation .”

 

Barry woke up very confused. “Wha-what happened? Oliver? Where’s the leader? Is everyone okay?”

He pushed himself into a sitting position and started to swing his legs off the table, Felicity rushed over to him. “No no no, Barry stay still!”

Barry, of course, did not listen. Instead he continued to try and get up. Oliver walked to him and gently yet forcefully pushed Barry down, “Barry you’re healing slowly, if you move it will take longer or make things worse. So just, listen to Felicity okay?” Oliver awkwardly patted the shoulder he was holding down.

“What? Why am I not healing? What happened?” Barry struggled against Oliver’s grip for a moment before glaring up at him. “Oliver, let me go yeah? I’m a big boy, I can take care of myself.”

Felicity winced “Well, we need to talk about that actually. You might not be as big as you thought.”

Barry looks at her confused, “What are you talking about? Am I shrinking? Did I get hit with like a de-growing ray? Is that even a thing? Oh no how am I gonna explain that to my job? Is there a cure? Can you fix me?”

Oliver gave Barry another awkward shoulder pat, “It's alright, calm down Barry. You’re fine. We just think you should take a Classification test. Felicity found some odd results that point to Mis-Classification.”

Barry looked relieved, then worried. “Yeah, no, that’s not happening. I'm sure Felicity just messed something up. No! I mean, uhhh, I bet something messed up the equipment Felicity was using! That's all.”

Felicity shook her head, “Wow Barry, tell me how you really feel.” She walked over to the computer and checked the suit’s scan. “Alright, let me explain. Your body slowed down, just like we’ve seen in the Meta-humans that have Little Classifications. Now that you’re awake and talking, things seem to be working at your normal speed.”

One scarlet gloved hand ran a hand over the speedsters face. “If I was a Little, hypothetically! Wouldn't things have shown up before? Why now?”

Oliver took a deep breath and tried to explain “Barry, if your given a Classification of Neutral your mind is basically at war with your body. Your mind says “Hey I’m not supposed to want to act like a kid.” and forces you to grow up. Meanwhile your body and brain know that deep down you need that release so one day, generally after pain or stress, you drop into headspace.”

Felicity had walked over while Ollie was explaining and was now helping Barry sit up. “You might not wanna hear it, but I think you need to let Caitlyn give another test. Do you think you could do that for us?” She gently pushed Barry’s hair away from his face.

He looked confused, “Why are we bringing Cait into this?” Felicity grinned at him, “Do you really want to explain to a testing officer why your heart is beating so fast?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm working on the spacing, trying to make it less crowded. If you notice something thats wrong/annoying please let me know! Thanks *mwah*


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I think this is the end of the first little story. It feels like a stopping place, I will be making more in this series though.

They all went to Star Labs together, much to Barry’s chagrin. He had been hoping to just forget it and tell Oliver that Caitlyn had given him a test and it was fine. But no, Oliver the mind reader had insisted not only that they go with him but that Felicity was going to explain everything for him.

Okay so he didn’t mind not having to explain but, he didn’t like that they were treating him different with just a suspicion that he was little.

Caitlyn reacted very calmly and started setting things up. Being a caretaker to Cisco, she knew the effects not going into headspace for an extended period of time and wanted to make sure that Barry immediately got results.

Cisco was very excited, as usual. “Dude that’s awesome! Do you think you’re gonna be like little-little? Or mid-little? I’m ten when I’m little! You think you’ll be around that age?” Caitlyn shook her head, smiling indulgently. “Cisco, give him some breathing room, ok? He might not be little at all, that’s why he’s taking a test.” Cisco rolled his eyes, Barry frowned, Felicity looked worried and Oliver had grim look on his face. He had a feeling that Barry was not going to be pleased with the results.

Caitlyn and Barry went into the little medical room for the test while the others stayed out in the main area. After about an hour Barry stood up, ripped off the electrodes and different equipment then angrily stomped out of the room. Caitlyn shrugged, “You can probably guess the results. I’d give him a few minutes to cool off, his heartbeat was starting to slow the more we got into the test. I don’t thing he can even access the speed force right now.”

Cisco looked dissapointed, “He’s upset? I thought he’d be happy, I wanted him to be my friend.” Felicity felt her heart give a pang at the sadness in his voice, she walked over to the boy and hugged him. “He’s just upset and confused right now, before long you two will be best friends!” Cisco looked up, “You really think so?” Felicity nodded. Caitlyn walked over to them and pulled her little into a cuddle. “There is going to be a lot of adjustment, his age range is anywhere from two to four. It’s going to be tough for a 23 year old to accept that.”

She looked at Oliver and Felicity. “Should we contact Joe and Henry? I don’t think Barry will.” Oliver nodded. “I’ll take care of that, Felicity you should check on him and see how he’s doing.”

She stood up and walked towards the direction Barry had went, happy to let Ollie take care of the explaining. She found Barry outside in the parking lot, head in his hands, sniffling. “Hey bud, what's wrong?” she knelt beside him and rubbed his back soothingly. To her great surprise he jumped up and away from her.

“Stop that! You're already doing it! You're using that stupid caretaker voice! I don't need a caretaker! I don't need help! Just leave me alone!” He sped about ten feet away before tumbling down. “NO!” He tried again and again to speed off but it wasn’t working. So he did the typical frustrated little thing, threw a tantrum.

Oliver found Felicity sitting calmly and waiting for a screaming, kicking Flash to quiet down. She gave him a rueful look, “Apparently I was using my “Caretaker voice” and he didn’t like it.” She shook her head.

Oliver raised his voice to be heard over the screeching. “That’s enough Barry, you’re going to make yourself sick.” He knelt beside the sobbing speedster and pulled a tissue from his pocket. “There we go, calm down. C’mon let’s blow your nose.”

Tantrum forgotten adult Barry attempted to raise his head for a moment with an angry. “I don’t need help!” But Oliver just ignored the outburst and wiped his face off anyways, causing Barry to swat at him. His hand was caught in a soft yet firm grip. “We don’t hit.”

Tears filled the clear blue eyes looking up at him, “I'm not a b-baby, I-I-I don't want to be a baby. Isn't there anyway to fi-fix me? Please! Just make me normal again!”

Oliver hesitated for just a moment before scooping Barry up into his arms. “Sh-sh-sh it's ok. You're not broken Barry. This is normal for you bud, just a new normal!”

This did not go over well with Barry, who’s head was spinning. His mind seemed to be split, part screaming at him to just relax and enjoy the warm feeling of being held, part telling him to stop this nonsense, stand up and deal with it. More tears slid down his cheeks.

Realizing what was going on in Barry's head, Felicity decided to give him the push he needed. She sat beside them and put her arms around the overwhelmed Little. “Hey, Bar? Can you look at me sweetie? I know your mind is all mixed up right now, but Ollie and I can help you. Just relax and let your instincts take control okay? We'll take care of you. Just relax.”

The speedster shook his head. “I'm so scared Licity, I'm so scared. I…” He dropped his head into Oliver’s shoulder and sobbed.

Oliver stood and pulled Barry closer to his chest. “We've got you bud, everything’s gonna be fine. You don't need to worry anymore. Just say the word Barry and we’ll take care of you.”

Felicity bit her lip and hoped he said yes, she and Oliver had talked about looking for a little before but it always ended with the fact that their lifestyle was too dangerous. But here was a Little already involved in the same dangerous job, now if only he would agree!

“Safe! Safe! Safe!” Barry’s mind kept chanting at him, telling him to trust them. He closed his eyes, he was just so tired! Maybe he could let them handle all the hard stuff, just for a minute! “ Kay, Olliler. You can take care me. You too ‘Licy. I tired now, sleep?”

Warmth spread through the hearts of the two Caretakers at the acceptance of the little. Oliver adjusted Barry so he was lying more comfortably in his arms. “Of course baby boy, you can sleep. We gotcha.” Felicity and Oliver exchanged a smile, finally! They found their little boy.

**Author's Note:**

> I should probably note that in this world they have discovered that Metahumans powers dissapear when they drop into littlespace, which is why Felicity noticed something was off with Barry's vitals. His heartbeat slowed to a normal human level and he wasn't healing as quickly as usual.


End file.
